Audio Version Of The Blog – 04.24.17

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Never Again!

Laitman_130I was born in 1946 and grew up in the shadow of that ruthless war that took the lives of millions of people in a terrible tragedy called the Holocaust of the Jewish people. The Holocaust has impacted me personally. Although my parents were lucky to survive, two-thirds of my relatives were killed in the death camps.

For this reason, the Holocaust is not some distant memory for me, but a painful reminder of what might also happen to us. The question, “How can we prevent another Holocaust?” is not an idle question for me. I ask this question with all the pain and the responsibility that I feel.

I feel how an ocean of hatred is drowning us. The signs of the impending disaster have never been so evident. All international reports regarding the unprecedented growth of anti-Semitism are clear warning signs.

On the International Holocaust Memorial Day, a question was asked on BBC as to whether it isn’t time to stop talking about the Holocaust. A scientific convention is going to be held in England about Israel’s legitimate right to exist, and an agreement has been signed with Iran regarding its nuclear plan, which is more proof that we cannot count on our “allies.”

All this is a cause of great concern regarding our future.

We can still prevent another Holocaust, but it is not enough to mourn the past in order to do that. Tears should give way to critical analysis of our current situation and a search for other means to correct it.

Why? Because we are living in a closed system of emotionless forces. The law, according to which this system operates, is homeostasis, which means the harmonious balance of all the elements in the system.

Therefore, if we act in accordance with this law, which means that we aspire to establish good and harmonious relations, we feel good, but if we are divided, this system forcefully rebalances us with it. Sometimes such a correction involves terrible suffering.

I know how hard it is for Holocaust survivors and members of their families to read these lines, but the truth has to be told. The Holocaust happened because the nation of Israel did not act according to the law of unity. Why us? Because we have a special responsibility to fulfill this law ever since the days of Abraham.

Abraham, the founder of our nation, discovered that everything is managed by the law of unity. When the people of ancient Babylon were divided because the ego grew, Abraham began to teach the Babylonians the method of unity.

The few that followed him were called the nation of Israel. The implementation of this law is the reason our nation exists. The only justification for our existence as a nation is to convey this law within us and to all the other nations of the world.

In the beginning of the last century, we received a chance to get back to the land of Israel, not in order to build a home for all the Jews in it, but in order to reacquire the unity that we have lost. Unfortunately, we did not do it then. Most of the Jews of Europe preferred to remain in their local communities or to assimilate.

The reaction of the upper system to that was the Holocaust that started at the beginning of the 1920’s. Long before the world was flooded and suffocated by blood, Kabbalists felt that a great tragedy was approaching and called the Jews of Europe to return to their land and to unite, but they did not listen to the Kabbalists.

Instead of uniting into one nation of our own freewill, we got closer to each other due to the terrible suffering during the Holocaust. After that we received our statehood.

The real mandate for the existence of our country is not the UN declaration, but our mission. According to Kabbalists, the state we received was given to us only in order to fulfill the law of unity. And this is exactly what the world demands of us.

Subconsciously, the people of the world want us to attain unity between us and to convey the method of Abraham to them. We have refused to do that so far and thus invoke anti-Semitism. It is actually this refusal that could be the cause for the next Holocaust.

Holocaust Remembrance Day and Israel’s Independence Day have to become days of fulfilling our mission, days of recalculating and reassessing the existence of our nation. On these days, we should gather around thousands of roundtables all over Israel and the world and understand how we must attain true independence, independence from our egoism, and learn how we can ascend from unfounded hate to brotherly love.

This is the only way we can ensure our future and the future of our children and to confidently say, never again!
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Jewish Business News: “Uniting The States For A Great America In Trump’s Era“

In my regular column in Jewish Business News, my new article: “Uniting The States For A Great America In Trump’s Era

Trump’s missile attack on Syria has been largely approved, indicating that America wants to reclaim the international watchdog role. But first, Trump must recover the unity of the United States. The Jews in his administration can help him do just that.

In my perspective, Trump’s time in office has proven that he deserves a chance to lead the country, as former Vice President Joe Biden put it last month.

Just recently, former Swedish PM, Carl Bildt, mocked the president following Trump’s implication that there was a terror attack in Sweden perpetrated by immigrants. Mr. Bildt tweeted, “Sweden? Terror attack? What has he been smoking?” Two months later, the current Swedish PM declared that Sweden will “never go back” to the days of mass migration after an illegal immigrant killed four people and injured 15 in a truck-ramming attack in downtown Stockholm.

After months of derision at Trump’s statements that the Obama administration spied on him and his advisors prior to the election, Bloomberg’s Eli Lake has revealed that Susan Rice, former national security adviser to Barack Obama, did precisely that.

Fast Forward

Trump must press forward with his agenda and take America to the next level. It means to consolidate, unite, and fuse the American society into a cohesive whole. As president of the United States, this is his primary obligation to his people.

Despite what seems to be a systematic campaign of liberal media such as CNN and The New York Times to discredit President Trump, the rifts that he exposed by his very election have been in the making for decades. Trump did not create them, but his election brought them to the surface.

The center is quickly shrinking on both sides of the political map. Trump has come to power at the time that the country requires an urgent transformation into a society with a common agenda.

The fact that Trump was elected proves that the American people are largely behind him. However, if his actions are not part of an overarching strategy to unify the nation, they will not produce the desired result.

The government should not regard problems as isolated crises, but rather as indicators of disunity in society. The mode of work should resemble that of a healthy family: It has to prioritize, yet without leaving family members behind. If Trump comes to view the American people the way a healthy family treats all of its members, there is no doubt America will be great again.

The Jewish Role in Trump’s Administration

Just recently, Jonathan Levi of Forward Magazine asked, “Is Jared Kushner the ‘Court Jew’ of Donald Trump’s Realm?” Clearly, it is not Kushner’s money that President Trump needs. The President feels he needs Kushner precisely where he has him, as a “senior advisor.”

As with any administration in the last several decades, that of Donald Trump is rife with Jews in key positions. Jews are at the top primarily because they are great connectors, making them key figures in the functioning of every system. The problem is that every administration uses Jews in order to promote its own agenda. Trump will set a precedent if he uses them in order to promote an all-American agenda of unity. Everyone will benefit from this.

There is a good reason why Jews excel at connecting people. The Jewish people are the only nation in the world that has an official birthday. According to the Torah, on the 6th of the Hebrew month of Sivan, in the year 2488 on the Hebrew calendar (1272 BC), the Jewish people was pronounced, having fulfilled the prerequisite of committing to unite “as one man with one heart.” Henceforth, the rise and fall of the Jewish people would depend on its level of adherence to the principle of unity.

America’s Unity First

If Trump truly wants to deliver on his promise to make America great again, he will need to take a different approach from all his predecessors. This must also require that the Jews in his administration work differently than in all previous administrations. To make America great, it must be a united nation. Trump needs to require that the Jews facilitate connections and rapport among themselves on both sides of the political map, and subsequently extend that amity to the rest of the American people.

If Jewish advisors in key positions establish trust and mutual responsibility among themselves, it will be much easier for the President to reconcile with the Democratic Party and establish a government that enjoys the full support of Congress. The longer Trump waits, the harder it will be for him to operate.

As a smart leader he should ask from his advisors to draw up a roadmap leading from the current partisanship to trust, cooperation, and eventual cohesion of American society and the political establishment.

This will make America not only great, but also a role model for all other nations, “a light unto nations,” if you will. Implementing a plan of this nature will reverse the negative global trajectory and will guarantee a better future for our children, and for the generations to come.
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The Cycle Of Calculations And Benefits

laitman_610_1Question: Is spiritual work a suppression of one egoistic desire by another?

Answer: What kind of spiritual work is this? You change one desire for another as if in the market, that’s all.

For example, I wanted to lie on the couch and watch football. And the wife says: “Go to the market and buy potatoes.” I think what’s better for me: watch the football game or go and buy potatoes.

If I do not go to the market, the children will remain hungry, the wife will make a scene, and it will cost me more. I make a calculation: I better skip a football match and go buy potatoes.

There cannot be altruistic calculations in our world. Man’s highest impulses are entirely selfish.

Question: What does it mean to engage in spiritual work without a selfish calculation? Can you give an example?

Answer: In our world there is no such example.

Let’s say I transfered a portion of my salary to the starving in Africa. Nobody knows about this. And the people of Africa do not know they get it from me, and I will never get to know them, I just transferred it. So why did I do this? Where did I get energy and desire to do so?

The point is that if we only are the selfish desire to enjoy, then we get some sort of pleasure from our actions; otherwise I would not have the strength to make a single movement. The atom could not spin, molecules and electrons could not circulate in our body if we did not see the benefits before us.

And the more intangible this benefit is, for example, a psychological or romantic benefit, the more energy it can give us. For instance, in order to earn my food and have a good dinner, I can spend a day, but in order to earn love or to take revenge on someone, I’m ready to spend my whole life. That is, there is already a calculation concerning desires. “Love and hunger rule the world.”

Question: What motivates a person in spirituality?

Answer: Also love and hunger, only the calculation is different: I shift the importance from the love for myself to others—to the entire humanity. This gives me the opportunity to experience the Creator, to be like Him.
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From KabTV’s Lesson in Russian 12/18/17

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My Thoughts On Twitter, 4/23/17

twitter

Democratic values have devolved into a cancer, devouring themselves. Only #UN officials and the like still benefit from them.

#420 tobacco was “weeded out,” but weed is slowly being legalized “in medicinal doses” as a cheap way of keeping people calm…

EU must recognize that peace with immigrants is impossible, then see same is true for #Israel & Palestinians. If antisemitism doesn’t blind.
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From Twitter, 4/23/17

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Marriage To Yourself

laitman_564In the News (Deseret News): “Polonious may have been just a tad ahead of his time when in Hamlet he counseled, ‘This above all: To thine own self be true. And it must follow, as the night to day, thou canst not then be false to any man.’

“According to Literarydevices.net, he was talking about ‘living a good and balanced life.’ But he might have been speaking of the latest quirk in marriage ceremonies: The marrying of oneself to … oneself.

“Sologamy, as a ‘wedding for one’ is called, is not attracting a tidal wave of people who want to do it, but it’s capturing some attention in parts of the world as diverse as Denmark, the United States and Japan. Single women, particularly, are pledging in formal ceremonies to love themselves, be good to themselves and treat themselves as a best friend. It’s not just the gals, either, though they’re a bit more apt to take the solo plunge.”

My Comment: This is said very beautifully. In fact, this emphasizes the basis of human nature—self-love. Man does not love anyone as much as he loves himself. This is absolutely honest, instinctively correct, and occurs naturally. I think only about myself, and no one blames me for that. I only take care of myself, serve only myself, so long as I feel good. This is true narcissism; I was engaged to myself to begin with.

This whole situation leads a person to the recognition of his true nature. Therefore, I am in favor of a person claiming, confirming, and admitting that he only loves himself and that he became engaged to himself the moment he was born. He doesn’t need to sign it but simply recognize the fact that he truly dedicates all his time and energy to himself. This is really our nature, and where can we escape from it?

Then suddenly he promises to live with, take care of, and think about some person all the time, to think about him. Today we see that love cannot exist. The attraction and living together for most young couples today lasts for about two to five years at the most, and then the marriage falls apart, crumbles, and they cannot take it any longer. We have reached a state where we cannot think of any type of communication other than temporary ones.

This is our way of recognizing evil. Human nature needs correction. Within us lies a second hidden part of our nature, which will not allow us to remain in our fraudulent state. Humanity cannot agree with this; it will look for a way out and find it—in correcting itself.

Therefore, any awareness of the evil of our nature is a positive process. I hope that we will discover more impulses of humanity and rise to the next level.
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From KabTV’s “News with Michael Laitman” 1/23/16

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The Method Of Nimrod And That Of Abraham

Two MethodsBaal HaSulam, “The Freedom”:  Separation between people is the source of every calamity and misfortune.

But with concepts and ideas, it is the complete opposite: Unity and lack of criticism is deemed the source of every failure and hindrance to all the progress and didactic fertilization. … The more contradictions there are between opinions and the more criticism there is, the more the knowledge and wisdom increase and matters become more suitable for examination and clarification….

Thus, evidently, the whole basis of physical success is the measure of unity of the society, and the basis for the success of intelligence and knowledge is the separation and disagreement among them.

In ordinary human society, the more peace and agreement the better, as between good kids. But if we want to grow, this growth is possible only if contradictions, mutual criticism, and disagreements intensify too, and at the same time, “love should cover all transgressions.”

We have to understand that we argue only because bigger desires are revealed in us, which prevent us from uniting with each other. Consequently, we demand unification above all disagreements.

An ordinary connection is possible in a family or among primitive peoples who existed before the Babylonian shattering. In ancient Babylon, many nations used to live as one family and spoke one language.

But all of a sudden, egoism sprung and it turned out that their desires contradicted each other. They began to quarrel, which resulted in the construction of the Tower of Babel. Two methods to solve this problem emerged since then. The first method was proposed by Nimrod who said: “Let’s divide and disperse in different directions, as far as possible from each other.”

Later on, egoism in us grew even more, each group started fighting again, and we divided further. New fights led to new separations. And so we arrived to the contemporary world where everyone lives for themselves and do not want to see anybody near them. Cell phones and computers—that’s all we need. We want to be left alone in our homes and not to be bothered by anybody.

Soon, food will be delivered to us by helicopters, biomass with any taste on demand, so we don’t even need to leave the house. This is Nimrod’s method, which came into being in ancient Babylon and has reached its final manifestation nowadays.

There was also the method of Abraham, who taught to unite above all these disagreements. That is, differences in opinion should remain and the more they are revealed the better, the stronger is the connection that could be built.

The followers of Abraham, who called themselves the people of Israel, succeeded in reaching the peak of unity called the construction of the First Temple. But they were not able to hold on to it. This was not possible since and they had to go through shattering and disperse among the nations of the world in order to pass to them the willingness to unite.

According to the method of Abraham, the disagreements remain but “love covers all transgressions.” Thus, we come to true freedom, when we are free from the rule of the angel of death and rise above it. Specifically due to egoism, we unite with others on an ever higher level.

Thanks to unification above disagreements, we start to understand, to feel, to attain the difference between darkness and light, which gives us the sensation of spiritual reality, although we ourselves are completely corporeal.

This is the essence of Abraham’s method. There are no other methods but these two: either distance from each other, according the method of Nimrod or unite above differences, according to the method of Abraham.
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From the 1st part of the Daily Kabbalah Lesson 1/3/17, “Education for Concession”

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We Is Better Than I

laitman_936Question: In what way is “we” better than “I”? Is it because there are no problems or feelings in “we” as there are within the limitations of my “I”?

Answer: Of course. What is more, when we attain the connection between us, here, now, in this life, we will begin to attain a new existence. Even if the physical body dies, it will not be a hindrance since we will already be living in the next dimension.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 10/30/16

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How Does The Environment Shape Reality?

laitman_942Question: You say that inclusion into others will change the perception of reality. How will it happen?

Answer: We constantly talk about this in our daily lessons.

In order to sense the upper world we need to build a sensory organ, in other words, a vessel of reception.

We must build this vessel from the egoistic desires of the ten (ten people) so that it becomes a sum of all our good qualities that are directed toward bestowal and love.

To do this, we must rise above ourselves, correctly interacting with each other in order to connect our ten points in the heart.

HowDoesTheEnvironmentShapeReality

If we succeed, we will turn into the quality of bestowal and love and will become an instrument for reception.

Then all the Upper Light that is around will fill us. This upper field will be called the Creator.

Therefore, we need to build a vessel of the soul into which the Light of the soul enters.
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From the Kabbalah Lesson in Russian 11/27/16

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For The Benefit Of Others

Laitman_510_01Torah, Deuteronomy 21:10: If you go out to war against your enemies.

This is about the war of a person against his nature that is egoism.

On one hand, this is a very difficult work, and the Torah describes it very precisely as a war. After all, you must fight with your internal properties, views, thoughts, and with the constant discovery that everything is directed to the benefit of your body, for your own convenience.

You always have to rise above this, to prefer the convenience of others, and through them, the convenience of the Creator to your own comfort, because the Creator is the personification of everything that is outside of you. This is a huge war with yourself.

Of course, there are forces that help fight and determine how to choose certain methods, opportunities, time, and circumstances in order to somehow rise above yourself and return your thoughts to the actions for the benefit of others and the Creator, and not for your own benefit. But in general, this is a very difficult job.

And the most important thing is, that although this work is so difficult in the inner pressure of a person, all people in the world must take it upon themselves. This is the most incredible fact.

Such thoughts are typical for those few people in the world who have a point in the heart. They understand the need for attaining the purpose of creation and for fulfilling of its plan. They have a rudiment of a new desire that burns them from within.

Ahead, a great fight awaits them. “Go out to war,” as the Torah says. However, they have at least an initial desire for this. For the rest of the people, all of it is in a dormant internal state. Yet, they are the entire humanity less the dozen people who really have a strong need to rise above their nature and are ready for anything.

In the end, it will still affect everyone because humanity must rise to a completely new nature, new laws, and new forces.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 10/5/16

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